Medicare for all would help America

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Judy Dasovich, M.D
The Springfield News-Leader
Ozarks Opinions
Saturday, August 4, 2007

In your 7/25 article, Jordan Valley Community Health Center Executive Director Brooks Miller stated that “We believe we all need to pay something.” At the Kitchen Medical and Dental Clinic we see patients every week who start out at Jordan Valley but cannot afford the minimum $30 per visit. Even patients who can afford the initial fee bring us their prescriptions, which they cannot afford. This $30 doesn’t cover specialty care or testing, such as a treadmill or a CAT scan or a visit to the cardiologist.

Here is the typical scenario: People get sick, then they can’t work so they lose their jobs and their medical insurance. They have a hard time paying their bills. Under these circumstances, $30 per visit for only the basics becomes prohibitive. These are the patients who come to us after finding that the Jordan Valley safety net is full of large holes. They may not have money but they’re still sick.

We believe people should receive health care based on need, not ability to pay. As many leaders in the Springfield health care community pointed out, this problem is too big for any one group to handle alone. I believe that Medicare for all will be the most effective and affordable solution. In this form of universal care, the delivery system (hospitals, doctors, etc.) stays in the hands of private business. It is the insurance piece that is handled by the government. Currently, Medicare overhead is less than 3 percent, while private insurance averages about 12-15 percent and can be higher. Patient satisfaction with Medicare insurance is higher than it is with private insurance. Traditional Medicare doesn’t exclude people for pre-existing conditions or cancel their insurance once people become ill. Medicare insurance also allows patients the freedom of choice advocated by Donald Tucker in his 7/28 News-Leader article. They can choose any doctor or hospital they want. Medicare for all is similar to the system that gets interstate highways built — federal tax dollars pay private business to produce a common good.

It’s time to put aside reliance on incomplete safety nets like emergency rooms, free clinics, and taxpayer-funded health care centers like Jordan Valley that turn sick people away. Contact the people that work for you in Washington today.